Books like “The Essex Serpent”

What to read after “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Hacienda
Isabel Cañas · 2022
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
After her father is killed in Mexico's war of independence, Beatriz marries a widower and moves to his country estate. The housekeeper burns copal and chalks signs on the doorways, and Beatriz begins to fear that her husband's first wife never left.
2
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
An orphan becomes a governess at the brooding Thornfield Hall. A bond grows between her and its stern master, but the house hides a dangerous secret that threatens the life she is beginning to hope for.
3
The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Gothic
- Creeping Dread
In post-war England, a country doctor is drawn into the fading life of a once-grand family living in a decaying mansion. Strange events unsettle the house and its residents, and suspicion falls in every direction. An unnerving story about class, decline and things that may not be ghosts.
4
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë · 1847
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Windswept Moors
- Gothic
On the Yorkshire moors, the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine grow up inseparable, then are torn apart by class and marriage. His long, bitter revenge consumes the next generation until their children find a way out.
5
The Silent Companions
Laura Purcell · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Gothic
- Creeping Dread
A young widow is sent to her late husband's crumbling estate and finds an eerie painted wooden figure that seems to move on its own. As the figures multiply, she begins to doubt her own mind. A gothic horror set in the English countryside, told through an asylum diary.
6
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier · 1938
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Gothic
- Creeping Dread
A shy young woman marries the widowed Maxim de Winter and arrives at Manderley, his grand estate by the sea. There she is measured against his first wife, the beautiful Rebecca, whose presence lingers in every room, in the servants' loyalty and in a secret nobody will speak.
7
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1902
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
Legend says a demonic hound haunts the Baskerville family on the Dartmoor moors. Holmes and Watson look into the death of Sir Charles and protect his heir from whatever stalks the fog-bound landscape.
8
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe · 1794
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
After her parents die, Emily St. Aubert is left to the care of an aunt who marries an Italian nobleman. Taken to the gloomy castle of Udolpho, she is surrounded by unexplained sounds, sealed rooms and sinister men, while she tries to keep her love and her safety.
9
Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia · 2020
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Gothic
- Creeping Dread
In 1950s Mexico, socialite Noemi Taboada travels to the mountain mansion of High Place to check on her newly married cousin, who writes of ghosts and sickness. The English family that owns it is cold and strange, and the house itself seems to be listening and slowly changing her.
10
Jamaica Inn
Daphne du Maurier · 1936
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
After her mother's death, Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt at Jamaica Inn on the bleak Bodmin Moor. Her uncle keeps the inn closed to travellers and answers to dangerous men from the coast. Mary must work out what her one remaining family is hiding before the moor and its secrets close over her.
11
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë · 1848
From the same world: “Gothic”
A young widow, Helen Graham, moves into the half-ruined Wildfell Hall and keeps to herself, refusing to explain her past. The farmer Gilbert Markham falls for her, then hears rumours about her and her son. Helen's hidden diary slowly reveals the marriage she fled and why she lives in hiding.
12
Rock Paper Scissors
Alice Feeney · 2021
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Gothic
- Creeping Dread
A couple whose marriage is failing take a weekend trip to a remote chapel in the Scottish countryside. Cut off and cold, they each keep a secret, and the anniversary gift they open is not what either of them expects.